Pinxten, Rik

1 article of this author has been cited in the European Press Review so far.

De Standaard - Belgium | 08/02/2011

Cameron sidelines immigrants

With his speech on the failure of multicultural society British Prime Minster David Cameron is following in the footsteps of Angela Merkel. Cultural scientist Rik Pinkten criticises their attitude saying it lacks statesmanship in the daily De Standaard: "The majority of migrants will feel insulted by Merkel and Cameron's statements. And quite rightly so, for they are seeking a fine balance between their own religious and cultural roots and the Western context in which they live and where they hope to give their children a future. Common decency demands that the leaders of such ethnically diverse countries as the UK and Germany at least learn to speak in the name of the entire population they represent. ... But their speeches testify to a closed 'culturalist mentality' ('my culture' vs. the 'multiculture') when they push all people of origins different to their own into a corner, that of the minority of frustrated core Muslims who swear by their eternally fixed and traditional identity."